1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a TV, and more particularly, to a method for parsing an Event Information Table(hereinafter, referred to as xe2x80x98EITxe2x80x99) and a TV using the same method.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A general digital TV receiver, as shown in FIG. 1, includes: a tuner 10 to which a broadcasting signal is received; an A/D converter 11 for converting the received broadcasting signal from the tuner 10 into a digital broadcasting data; a channel decoder 12 for detecting a pilot signal from the digital broadcasting data to detect a baseband signal and for performing an error correction for the detected signal; a microcomputer 20 for outputting a control signal in accordance with manipulation of a user; a TP analyzer 13 for analyzing a TP signal in the digital broadcasting signal outputted from the A/D converter 11 to detect audio/video signals under control of the microcomputer 20; an MPEG audio decoder 24 for decoding the audio signal analyzed in the TP analyzer 13; an MPEG video decoder 25 for decoding the video signal analyzed in the TP analyzer 13; a digital to analog converter(DAC) 30 for converting the digital audio signal decoded in the MPEG audio decoder 24 into an analog signal; a flash ROM 40 where channels and programs are stored; a RAM 41 where a temporary data is stored by the operation of the microcomputer 20; and an NTSC encoder 31 for converting the video signal decoded in the MPEG video decoder 25 into an image signal which is displayed on a TV or monitor. Further, an SDRAM 23 is necessary for data processing in the MPEG audio decoder 24 and the MPEG video decoder 25, and a user interface 21 and a CAS interface 22 are necessary for generation from the outside of an operation signal for the microcomputer 20.
Generally, the digital broadcasting processes the video signal and the audio signal under the standard of MPEG. Particularly, the MPEG standard number for the broadcasting system is ISO/IEC 13818-1, that for the video signal is ISO/IEC 13818-2, and that for the audio signal is ISO/IEC 13818-3. However, the digital TV receiver in U.S.A. does not use the audio signal under the MPEG system and processes it under the standard of DOLBY AC-3.
The tuner 10 receives a Quadrature Phase Shift Keying(QPSK) signal or a Quadrature Amplitude Modulation(QAM) signal from an antenna and detects and outputs the received signal. The detected signal in the tuner 10 is converted into an intermediate frequency band signal by means of an IF converter(not shown). This is because the detected signal in the tuner 10 is a high frequency signal in a great high frequency band, with which a driving circuit in the digital TV does not deal.
The channel decoder 12 detects the pilot signal in the intermediate frequency signal to detect the baseband signal and converts the baseband signal into a digital signal. Next, it performs a timing recovery appropriate to a symbol rate and then performs the error correction. The output signal of the channel decoder 12 is a transport stream packet type of signal sequence in a byte unit. FIG. 2 shows an exemplary view of a transport stream packet structure.
The transport signal sequence, which is standardized in the MPEG-2 system, is a time-multiplexed signal sequence, which is called xe2x80x9ctransport stream packetxe2x80x9d. The transport signal sequence contains a header on which a packet identifier(PID) number is recorded, on the starting of the packet. The PID number is utilized as the information with which the time-multiplexed signal is demultiplexed. Also, the PID number means the type of a current packet, and if the PID number is analyzed, it is checked whether the current packet is a video packet, an audio packet, or program specific information. Particularly, the digital TV standard in U.S.A. includes the program specific information, that is, a program and system information protocol(hereinafter, referred to as xe2x80x98PSIPxe2x80x99).
The PSIP is comprised of: a master guide table(MGT) where the versions of all broadcasting program tables are controlled; a terrestrial virtual channel table(TVCT) where the information for channels is stored; a rating region table(RRT) where a rating table of each program is listed; an event information table(EIT) for providing the information on the current broadcasting programs and future broadcasting programs; an extended text table(ETT) for providing the detailed information on the current broadcasting programs and future broadcasting programs; and a system time table(STT) for sending a current time.
The video and audio standard in the MPEG-2 system are in connection with the signal sequences of the compressed video and audio. Under the MPEG-2 standard, the video signal, the audio signal and the program specific information are all time-multiplexed and transmitted in several transport stream packets. And, the signal sequences thereof are all discriminated with the PID number.
The TP analyzer 13 analyzes the signal sequence in the transport stream packet with the PID number and applies the analyzed results to each decoders 24 and 25. In more detail, the TP analyzer 13 receives the transport signal sequence received in the tuner 10 and senses the PID number contained on the header of the corresponding signal sequence. Thus, the TP analyzer 13 performs demultiplexing through which the received transport signal sequence is divided into a video signal sequence, an audio signal sequence and a program specific information sequence in accordance with the sensed PID number. Thereby, the TP analyzer 13 applies the video signal sequence to the MPEG video decoder 25, the audio signal sequence to the MPEG audio decoder 24, and the program specific information sequence to the microcomputer 20.
The MPEG video decoder 25 decodes the video signal sequence applied from the TP analyzer 13 and outputs the decoded result to the NTSC encoder 31. The video signal sequence applied from the TP analyzer 13 is the compressed data in the MPEG-2 system. Therefore, the MPEG video decoder 25 uncompresses the video signal sequence to return to an original digital video data.
The MPEG audio decoder 24 decodes the audio signal sequence applied from the TP analyzer 13 and outputs the decoded result to the DAC 30. The audio signal sequence applied from the TP analyzer 13 is the compressed data in the MPEG-1 system. Therefore, the MPEG audio decoder 24 uncompresses the audio signal sequence to return to an original digital audio data.
The DAC 30 converts the digital audio signal applied from the MPEG audio decoder 24 into analog audio signals(R and L) which are processed in an amplifier or speaker. The analog audio signal is outputted as voice or sound by means of a stereo speaker(not shown)
The NTSC encoder 31 converts the digital video signal applied from the MPEG video decoder 25 into luminance and chrominance signals(Y and C) which are displayed on a general TV or monitor. The luminance and chrominance signals are displayed as video by means of a CRT(not shown).
The microcomputer 20 controls the operation of the digital TV receiver. The flash ROM 40 stores the program necessary for the control of the microcomputer 20, and the DRAM 41 stores the temporary information or data necessary upon the execution of the control operation of the microcomputer 20.
The digital TV under the above construction receives the program specific information signal sequence to provide various kinds of program specific information which is not obtained in an analog TV to a viewer. Particularly, the EIT is a very important information table containing various kinds of information such as starting time and broadcasting hour, title and grade, caption and the like in connection with programs currently broadcast and programs scheduled in the future. An example where such the EIT is embodied in the digital TV is shown in FIG. 2.
The EIT as shown in FIG. 2 is a kind of broadcasting program guide and is comprised of the title of a broadcasting program, the name of a broadcasting station, the broadcasting time of the program, and a current time. Specifically, the title of the broadcasting program and the broadcasting time of the program are displayed by means of the EIT program specific information signal sequence.
On the other hand, another example where such the EIT is embodied in the digital TV is shown in FIG. 3. The EIT as shown in FIG. 3 is program information, which unfolds detailed contents of the broadcasting program as shown FIG. 2. In other words, if a user selects any one of the broadcasting programs on the program guide in FIG. 2, the detailed information of the selected program is listed as shown in FIG. 3. As shown, the program information includes the title of program, story, broadcasting start and end time, the grade of program, language and so on.
The PSIP standard stated in the Advanced Television Systems Committee(ATSC) broadcasting standard defines the transmission of the EIT corresponding to three hours. In other words, the EIT according to the U.S. broadcasting standard is edited to contain the program specific information on the broadcasting programs corresponding to 0:00-03:00, 03:00-06:00, 06:00-09:00, 09:00-12:00, 12:00-15:00, 15:00-18:00, 18:00-21:00, and 21:00-24:00 hours, respectively. Since the number of the EITs to be sent is 128(EIT1-EIT127), if the digital TV analyzes all of the EITs, it stores the broadcasting program specific information corresponding to total 384 hours, that is, 16 days.
In parsing the EITs, however, the conventional digital TV encounters some problems as follows:
First, if the conventional digital TV is to build the specific information on the broadcasting program as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, all EITs should be really parsed. However, if the 128 EITs are all sent and parsed, a memory capacity and microprocessor exceeding a general personal computer level should be prepared, which occurs a problem that the price of the body of the digital TV goes up drastically.
Secondly, since the EIT is sent in a period of rough 500 ms, there occurs a problem that the time taken for the conventional digital TV to receive all of the EITs and build the broadcasting program specific information is delayed to undesirably prolong the processing speed.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method for parsing EIT that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related arts.
An object of the invention is to provide a method for parsing EIT which is capable of parsing and providing program specific information on broadcasting programs at a rapid speed.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for parsing EIT which is capable of setting priority order to the EITs according to the prime time when an audience rating is highest or by channels and processing the EIT in the order of the set priority.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for parsing EIT comprises the steps of: extracting EITs from a program specific information signal sequence; parsing each EIT in a prescribed priority order in the EITs; and displaying the parsed EIT on a TV screen. At this time, the method for parsing the EIT further comprises the steps of: aligning the extracted EITs in the order of time; and setting the predetermined priority order to the aligned EITs.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.